There are a number of particular requirements that regulations stipulate for these emergency lights:
- They must turn on automatically at any power loss
- They must remain on for a minimum of 90 minutes
- They must provide enough light to light the entire egress route to a minimum o f1 ft-candle of illumination, measured 1 foot above the floor.
Regulations require that the entire egress route be lighted from all areas that can have people in them, all the way to a public way or safe assembly area. A public way would be a sidewalk, street or alley. In the absence of a nearby public way, the facility owner can designate an outside area that is far enough away from the facility to protect the people in the case of a fire, as a safe assembly area.
